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A day in the life: Izard and Batali

Nothing ground shaking, but I thought that they where interesting. The thing that really stands out in each though is how much you have to love killing yourself with work to make it to the top / stay there.

I had little professional respect for Batali, I have less after I learned of his money skimming from waiters and bussers, that he settled to the tune of $5.25 million. Do I think he is: Skilled, driven, passionate, talented, smart, over-rated? Emphatically yes to all of the above. The guy has an empire and you can't discount that, and perhaps my experiences are the exception, but I've eaten at two of his places and it wasn't at all worth the price or hype. The Izard episode though I look forward to watching that.

I liked the Izard episode a lot better, but I thought that it was interesting to see the differences between the two. IMO they are 2 totally different documentaries: one is about a chef-owner who became a TV personality and business executive, the other is about a chef-owner that got some TV exposure and then went back to being a chef-owner.

I don't think that one is right or wrong or more noble than the other, it's just interesting to see.

I never realized the extent of the Batali empire and how far away the actual food and service that goes on in his restaurants he is, nor did I know about the BS money skimming thing that Sarge mentioned.
link: http://gothamist.com/2012/03/07/mari...e_with_dis.php.
I had a friend that worked in a restaurant where the owner/manager would occasionally "help out" with the tables (refill a water, chit-chat, run an extra plate or napkin) and then "tip herself out" from the tip jar at the end of the night. That knida crap, stealing from the people that have the least, makes me so mad.